Zombies and American Culture Night of the Living Dead, Assignments of History of film

Download Zombies and American Culture Night of the Living Dead and more Assignments History of film in PDF only on Docsity! Zombies and American Culture Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 iconic zombie movie directed by George A. Romero. It was released during the Civil Rights movement and many aspects of the film reflect that. For instance, it is noticeable throughout the movie that the zombies are white people with no other race portrayed in the same way. The film uses the horror genre to contradict the events that have been occurring at the time; therefore, instead of a white hero, we have a black protagonist and leader –Ben– that ensures the safety of the other survivors. Interestingly, besides white zombies and hateful rednecks who brutally hunt down zombies, even the white family was depicted as monstrous with the impatient and spiteful father who insists he should be in charge instead of Ben and the daughter who ends up murdering both her parents (Sharrett, 2014, 62). Romero created a movie that defies the common ideologies that surround that era –an era filled with violence towards African Americans; however, the controversial ending that disappointed me, personally, challenges Romero’s intentions and raises doubts and questions: are black men, no matter how responsible, careful and fearless they are, destined to be killed by the hands of vicious white men? In today’s movies and films, zombies do not represent a deeper or more significant issue as they once did. In movies like Zombieland, zombies are portrayed as mere monsters that need to be annihilated to ensure the characters’ survival. The goal of these movies has gone from raising awareness regarding social, cultural and political issues to entertaining the audience with hungry brain-eating “Others” with no character development whatsoever that do not deserve our mercy or empathy (Sharrett, 2014, 63